Why Israelis Resist: They Know `Mideast Realities`

May 30, 1988|By Isaac Cohen, of Wilmette, a professor at Northwestern University who was born in Egypt. He writes frequently on the Middle East.

With the explosive situation in Judea, Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza, why doesn`t Israel walk out of these territories? If it did, a new Palestinian state ruled by the Palestine Liberation Organization would arise, contiguous to Jordan, the other Palestinian state ruled by the Hashemite minority.

At first, it would seem that peace had been achieved. The pre-1967 borders of Israel would be restored, leaving a distance of nine miles in Israel between the sea and the new Arab state. Arab refugees would be asked to leave Lebanon and Syria and return to the new Palestinian state. Thousands would flock to the already overpopulated area, where they would still be kept in miserable conditions, fueling their hatred of Israel.

Such an Arab Palestinian state would not be viable economically and would necessarily act to destabilize its neighbors, Israel and Jordan. Eventually, in the other Arab Palestinian state, the Hashemite minority of Jordan with its King Hussein would be overrun by the Palestinian majority.

One more concession would be asked of Israel: the return to the 1947 United Nations partition plan, rejected at the time by the Arabs and now suicidal for Israel. Pressure would build up not only from Arab countries but from the international community as well for Israel to assume a policy of appeasement. Israel would be balkanized and dismembered piecemeal by so-called ``peaceful`` diplomatic means.

Seldom addressed by the media, so puzzled by the adamant stand of Israel, is that the majority of Israeli Jews originate from Arab countries and were forced in 1947-48 to flee in hundreds of thousands to a safe haven. These Jews speak Arabic, read Arabic, have lived for centuries under Islam in the wretched state of dhimmis, or ``protected`` inferiors, and truly understand what the representatives and supporters of the Arab Palestinian people are saying. These representatives say it through the PLO Covenant, which calls for the liquidation of Israel, and through their daily Arab press and TV. They also say it through the decisions of the Palestine National Council, their parliament in exile.

Such decisions include the strategy of phases, adopted by the 12th PNC, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in any part of the liberated land, ``provided that this would not include any condition that would prevent the realization of the final objective (the liquidation of Israel),`` as stated by Khalid al Hasan, close aide to Yasser Arafat, in February, 1982. A policy of ambivalence was adopted following the 16th PNC in 1983.

This yes-no policy has indeed been a public relations success. While the no is invariably uttered in Arabic, a vague and conditional yes is usually said in English. But it is to Israel and the Arab world that Arafat should say yes, and in Arabic. The truth is that PLO leaders are convinced that time is on their side and don`t want to have their hands tied by a genuine peace agreement with the Jewish state.

The Israeli Jews from Arab countries will vote next November in the Israeli elections, and they are the ones to convince of the Arab desire for peace. They are the ones who truly understand Middle East realities. Anwar Sadat of Egypt, who understood the problem very well, made a convincing peace move that brought him in return the oil-rich Sinai peninsula. Those who should re-enact such a move are the Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza. They have to take the lead, since they have a vested interest in peace, and the PLO will have to trail behind them.

Violent rioting may give them a sympathetic international image temporarily, but ultimately will lead them nowhere. If they want to keep the name PLO for sentimental reasons, so be it. But in recognizing and announcing to the Arab world in unequivocal terms the right of Israel to be a Jewish state with a permanent existence among nations in the Middle East, they will automatically negate the PLO rhetoric and influence the outcome of the Israeli elections.

Time is running out for the Arabs of Palestine. They should heed the admonition of Sari Nusseibeh, the Arab Palestinian intellectual who called upon the Palestinian leadership to ``launch a clear-cut peace initiative that is as daring and imaginative as the uprising itself.`` Only then will a lasting peace have a chance.